Abstract
We show that the excess in electron recoil events seen by the XENON1T experiment can be explained by a relatively low-mass luminous dark matter candidate. The dark matter scatters inelastically in the detector (or the surrounding rock) to produce a heavier dark state with a mass splitting. This heavier state then decays within the detector, producing a peak in the electron recoil spectrum that is a good fit to the observed excess. We comment on the ability of future direct detection experiments to differentiate this model from other “beyond the standard model” scenarios and from possible tritium backgrounds, including the use of diurnal modulation, multichannel signals, etc., as possible distinguishing features of this scenario.
- Received 25 June 2020
- Accepted 9 September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.161803
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
synopsis
Theorists React to Potential Signal in Dark Matter Detector
Published 12 October 2020
A tantalizing signal reported by the XENON1T dark matter experiment has sparked theorists to investigate explanations involving new physics.
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